Chris Hardwick's Blog, page 2360

Schlock & Awe: There are Almost No Words for LISZTOMANIA

As a film critic and avid watcher/studier, I latch on to certain filmmakers for certain periods of time, devour all I can by them, and then move on like some kind of piranha of artistic endeavors. I’ve been growing increasingly hungry for films by the expressionistic and often surrealistic British director Ken Russell. I’ve already written about his films The Devils and Altered States, and today I think I have possibly his strangest and most forcefully weird. It’s a treatise on rock stardom in the age of classical music. There is truly nothing quite like 1975’s Lisztomania.

I truly don’t know where to begin with this one. It’s a movie that from frame one to frame the last displays its author’s tastes, predilections, viewpoints, and indulgences in a way that very few get to do on a studio budget. This was the third of Russell’s major films about 19th Century composers, following 1970’s The Music Lovers about Pyotr Ilych Tchaikovsky, and 1974’s Mahler about Gustav Mahler. Lisztomania is about the oldest of the bunch, Franz Liszt, the composer and pianist who lived from 1811 to 1886 and was in many ways the very first rock star. The term “Lisztomania” was invented by press at the time to describe the frenzy young women would break in to at a Liszt concert performance. The term “Beatlemania” exists because of “Lisztomania.”

The film stars Roger Daltrey as Liszt, an excellent choice given that Daltrey was himself a rock god with his band the Who. He’d only just worked with Russell on Tommy, the rock opera based on the Who’s seminal concept album, and must have had a great time of it. In this movie, he gets to get fawned over by hordes of women, engage in absurd sex scenes, and generally look and act like royalty at all times. But the movie ends up not being about Liszt so much as it’s about Richard Wagner becoming more and more a vile monstrous being who essentially started the Nazi party himself. I mean, sure.

The film starts with Liszt having an affair with a countess and then a Benny Hill-like duel-chase when the very foppish count comes in and discovers them. It’s during this scene where the series of dream sequences/hallucinations that Liszt has about his ever-growing fame raining down on him. He and the countess are trapped in a piano that’s left on train tracks while a steam engine races toward it. This signifies, I suppose, that Liszt feels trapped by his own libido and stardom and longs for something with more purpose, which leads to the later part of the film.

Early on, Liszt meets a young composer named Richard Wagner (Paul Nichols) who wears comical German resistance costume for the first part of the film. In a debauched club full of several other famous composers in cameos by some of Russell’s main cadre of actors, Wagner asks Liszt to play some of his music at his concert, big-upping his own prowess and decrying things like “Chopsticks.” Naturally, Liszt being a real piece of shit, decided to play the composition after making fun of Wagner’s big head and then interspersing bits of “Chopsticks.” This is Liszt at his most debauched and conceited.

The movie also spends lots of time with Liszt and the many women in his life, including the countess (Fiona Lewis), Princess Carolyn (Sara Kestelman) — who is the dominatrix-like central figure in an extended surrealist sequence in which Liszt has a comically large phallus that women dance around like a May Pole before he gets it cut off in the guillotine — and his illegitimate daughter Cosima (Veronica Quilligan), whom he doesn’t have much time for. All of the women begin to resent him and for his hedonism, and he knows he should change his ways.

Cosima gets married and has a child, but she soon meets the revolutionary Wagner and Liszt gets word that the two have eloped. It’s here when the movie starts to get especially heavy-handed. Liszt, as he did in real life, attempts to leave the world of concert piano and hedonism and devote himself to the Catholic Church, but Wagner aims to use Liszt to get his own message out to the German people as they overthrow the current regime. Wagner is literally shown to have vampire teeth and dig them in to the back of Liszt, operating him like a puppet as he plays Wagner’s music for fascist and Aryan reasons. Liszt meets the Pope (played by Ringo Starr of all people) as he has a relapse into the bed of another woman, and the Pontiff tells him that Wagner is the Antichrist and needs to be stopped.

As if that weren’t enough, the whole end of the movie takes place in a Hammer Horror-esque castle where Wagner and Cosima are training a group of young, blonde children to hate the Jews. Wagner attempts to create the perfect Superman, the symbol of white supremacy, like a Frankenstein monster who looks like Thor and is played by electronic musician Rick Wakeman, who also did the score for the film. Even though Liszt “destroys” Wagner by using a flamethrower-piano to knock down the parapets of the castle, he eventually rises again, looking way more like Hitler than you’d think, and walking down the road followed by the Aryan children, shooting a guitar machine gun at the sky.

Yeah. So it very quickly ceases to be about Franz Liszt, despite a finale in which Liszt in heaven or whatever hangs out with all of the women in his life playing music before getting into a rocket ship made of pipe organs. Anyway. I have a theory that Russell was really working through stuff about the Wagners. In Mahler, there’s a lengthy sequence in which Mahler is tempted to make music for Mother Germany by Cosima Wagner who dresses like a Nazi dominatrix and Mahler is on a crucifix. And then a year later he makes a movie where Richard Wagner — who definitely was a vile, hateful, anti-Semite — kickstarted the Nazi Party through his music, which was indeed appropriated in later years by the Wagner estate. I truly think Ken Russell haaaaaaaated Richard Wagner and needed a place to take out his aggression.

At any rate, Lisztomania is a film that needs to be seen to truly be believed. It’s a vibrant, frenetic, hallucinatory glimpse at rock & roll excess in the days of classical music…and then it’s a weird-ass treatise on why Wagner was a fascist vampire monster person. And unlike The Music Lovers and Mahler, there’s almost no Liszt music in the movie…but it’s totally worth a watch. I’m still shaking my head about it.

Images: Warner Bros

Kyle Anderson is the Associate Editor for Nerdist. He writes the weekly look at weird or obscure films in Schlock & Awe. Follow him on Twitter!

MR. ROBOT Recap: Logic Bomb

Editor’s Note: This post contains spoilers for USA’s Mr. Robot. Proceed with caution. 

We’re only a few episodes deep into the second season of Mr. Robot, and so much has happened already. While Elliot was busy struggling to suppress Mr. Robot, Gideon and Romero were murdered, Agent DiPierro located fsociety’s arcade hideout, Angela was given the ammo to ruin two Evil Corp employees, and the mystery of the iconic mask’s origin was revealed. It wasn’t until last week that the protagonist came up for air from his madness (or at least accepted and harnessed it), reunited with his sister, and planned his next move: hacking the FBI. While it was nice seeing Elliot emerge from the fog, I think we can all agree in saying that this show is at its best and most creative when we don’t know what’s going on. But now that we do (or think we do), the plot has progressed in a number of surprising ways.

First, we got to see more of Joanna’s activities this week—of course, that doesn’t mean we know exactly what she’s up to. When she wasn’t busy taking care of baby Tyrell, the new mama was dodging paparazzi (and the FBI, as we later learned), trying to ensure one of her men doesn’t talk (all while searching for her husband). Based on the fact that the above-mentioned man alluded to Elliot, we know that Joanna is involved and trying to clean up after the hack. She even went so far as to have him murdered and make sure he knew why as it happened. Our guess is that she (or Tyrell) is involved with the Dark Army, but who knows.

Speaking of the Dark Army, we got a fair amount of B.D. Wong this week, but not in the usual Whiterose form. When Dom and the FBI took the investigation to Beijing, Wong’s business man persona, Jung, welcomed them with open arms. As the Minister of State Security, he promised to help the agents look into the intelligence China has on The Dark Army. He also invited the group to a grand cocktail party at his home.

During the soiree, Dom stumbled upon an odd hallway featuring a bunch of clocks (remember Whiterose’s obsession with time?) while looking for the bathroom. When he asked her how a Jersey girl like her found her way into the FBI, we learned a bit more about her background. In short: she was proposed to during the final semester of law school, but ran away from the situation and wound up as a mid-level agent. Her life is clearly mediocre and she’s unhappy about it.

Things took a turn when Jung showed her Whiterose’s fabulous wardrobe, and claimed the garments belonged to his sister (a statement Dom knows is BS because Jung doesn’t have a sister). Jung also asked her if she ever wondered what the world would be like if the 5/9 hack never happened. It was weird, but posed the weird idea that there’s an alternate reality where every character in the show is leading a different life. I know the line was a reference to Whiterose/Jung’s double life, and probably that of Elliot/Mr. Robot, but it would be interesting to see an alternate universe thrown into the mix …but I digress.

The thing we do know is that the bureau’s time in China was NOT good for the agents. When Dom returned, a pair of men shot up the office. As soon as shots rang out, Dom took cover and reached for a handgun. When one of the shooters turned the gun on himself, another emerged. It’s unclear who’s responsible, but we have a feeling it was the Dark Army. We also still don’t know who murdered Romero, or who’s been watching the group.

However, The Dark Army isn’t the only dangerous group at play. During this week’s episode, we finally found out Ray’s dark secret. Remember when we thought he was working with Mr. Robot, or the Dark Army, behind Elliot’s back? Welp, we were 100% wrong. He’s actually involved in the black market. Elliot discovered what he was up to after the the previous IT guy (the one who was beat up a few episodes ago) pointed him in the right direction. What Elliot found when he go to the site was stomach-churning: he saw underage prostitutes for sale, firearms, and drugs.

This obviously ignites the side of Elliot that’s focused on exposing terrible people in defense of the innocent. It was nice to see the plot point that had since fizzled out readdressed. Mr. Robot, of course, doesn’t want Elliot to get involved because it’s dangerous and they have more important battles to fight. Elliot didn’t have long to ponder exposing Ray, though, as his thugs ripped him from his bed and beat him up, while he reiterated that he told him not to look. Despite his nice guy act, Ray means business. It’s unclear what they’ll do with Elliot, but it won’t be good, especially with his plan to maintain a low profile along with Darlene and Angela.

We didn’t get to see any Evil Corp/Price madness this week, but for good reason. Angela was busy worrying about the CD she was blackmailed into using at Allsafe to infect the network—a problem Darlene brought to her attention at the beginning of the episode. Though at first Angela wanted nothing to do with getting involved again (via Darlene’s plan for her to drop off a package on the fed’s floor at E Corp), her mind was changed after a chat with her ex, who was the only other person outside of fsociety (and Ellio)t who knew about what she did. Although Elliot doesn’t want her involved, she joins Darlene and the group towards the end of the episode.

Things are definitely getting interesting. Do you miss Elliot’s crazy side, or are you liking where things are headed? Let us know in the comments below, join the conversation on Facebook, or start one with me on Twitter: @Samantha_Sofka!

Images: USA

POKÉMON SUN and MOON Includes a New Long-Necked Exeggutor, and the Internet Loves It

Yesterday, it was revealed that in Pokémon Sun and Moon‘s Alola region, some familiar Pokémon can exist in new forms. For example, the Alolan Vulpix has become Ice type, while Sandshrew and Sandlash are both now Ice/Steel. Of course, those of us who have been anywhere near social media since this announcement know that the internet has already picked their overwhelmingly favorite new Alolan Pokémon: Exeggutor.

The already-goofy first-generation Pokémon was given a long, long, long neck that makes it over 35 feet tall, and even though Exeggutor is definitely tree-based, it still looks hilarious. The Pokémon website says of the new form, “The environment of the Alola region, where strong sunlight pours down all year round, brought about this change in Exeggutor’s form. The people of Alola boast that the Alolan Exeggutor is the true form of Exeggutor.”

And oh boy are the memes pouring in. Some show Alolan Exeggutor reaching new heights:

#ナッシークソコラグランプリ pic.twitter.com/KA85HiPXWG

— ポカリ@牛乳アクエリアス一級配合師 (@pokari228) August 1, 2016

When you’re trying to think but Alola Exeggutor gets announced pic.twitter.com/D4J7hmbX9E — That’sGood,ILikeThat (@thatsgoodilike) August 3, 2016

アローラのナッシー(メガシンカ)#ナッシークソコラグランプリ pic.twitter.com/VXqbL40ETB

— 氷筍 (@tt1415525) August 1, 2016

Others chose to focus on the fourth head which is located on its tail, which according to the Pokémon website, “controls the tail independently and can take on opponents to the rear that can’t be reached by the main heads’ attacks.”

That face when you’re literally a butt head.#PokemonSunMoon pic.twitter.com/TJgPuf2xn0 — Ben Bertoli (@SuperBentendo) August 1, 2016

imagine gettin the raw deal and being the butthole head of a sentient palm tree https://t.co/AhIjZWIJ8b

— TieTuesday (@TieTuesdayLP) August 1, 2016

Some are playing up Alolan Exeggutor’s baton- or staff-like properties:

たぶん一番強い杖。 #ナッシークソコラグランプリ pic.twitter.com/h0jZq4zUrg — けむけむ@城とおくとぱす (@kem_shirodora) August 2, 2016

#ナッシークソコラグランプリ pic.twitter.com/nSkaPu3y4I

— キヨキイッピョウ (@kiyoki_ippyou) August 2, 2016

落ち込んだりもするけれど私元気です#ナッシークソコラグランプリ pic.twitter.com/SXf2RloOKJ — o b b (@obbabc) August 2, 2016

Then there are all sorts of other reactions:

1年中強い日差しが降り注ぐアローラ地方では、くさポケモンたちはとても元気！この地方のくさポケモンこそ、本来の姿であるとアローラ地方の人々は誇らしげだ！ pic.twitter.com/1MRPkwG7JW

— 天草鮪 (@maguro_amakusa) August 1, 2016

Be careful who you call ugly in middle school. pic.twitter.com/B3CyVGIQOR

— ☆ MUSCLE WIZARD ☆ (@imashbuttons) August 1, 2016

http://jaycrawler.tumblr.com/post/148296942786/that-moment-when-you-realize-that-without-mega-a

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Iggy Pop Dedicated a Two-Hour Radio Show to David Bowie

In this interview from 1990, Iggy Pop essentially credits David Bowie with saving his life. In the latest installation of his BBC Radio 6 program, “Iggy Confidential,” the wild rocker reciprocated some of that life he owed, dedicating two hours of songs and stories to the late Starman.

Iggy and Bowie first met in the early ‘70s near the beginning of both of their careers. They subsequently toured together, moved around the world together, and collaborated on numerous occasions. (Fun fact: Bowie actually wrote the melody and named Iggy’s seminal song, “Lust for Life.”)

It was Bowie’s music that Iggy focused on in his latest radio segment, though. The singer devised the playlist by memory, culling songs from all over Bowie’s discography that were especially important to him, like “Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps),” “Moonage Daydream,” and “Warszawa.” And he added bits of color and context throughout. Before “Wild is the Wind,” for instance, he said:

“This was recorded at Cherokee Studios, which was just a very typical, good old solid rock’n’roll studio owned by some guy who was connected to some guy who always had a mountain of drugs. And there were people with hair too long for their bodies coming and going in weird cars. And strange girlfriends.”

As Pitchfork reports, the Stooges’ frontman interjected the playlist with all kinds of personal anecdotes, detailing stories about eating hamburgers with Bowie and Frank Zappa, getting invited over to hear Let’s Dance before it was ever released, and several others. It’s an intimate window into Bowie’s life that only Iggy could provide. Check it out here and let us know your favorite Iggy/Bowie memory in the comments.

Revisit our tribute to David Bowie

Image: Eddy BERTHIER via Wikimedia Commons

George Lucas Buys Marvel HAN SOLO Art, Plus More Comics News

Although Comic-Con is over, the major publishers sure aren’t slowing down when it comes to bringing out some serious comics announcements. First off though, artist Mark Brooks got a very special customer to buy his original Star Wars art the other day. Read on for all the details…

George Lucas Buys Original Han Solo Marvel Art

After George Lucas sold off his company to Disney in 2012, you’d think he’d washed his hands of all things Star Wars and didn’t want to hear words like “Jedi” or “Empire” ever again. However, it seems that Lucas is quite a fan of Marvel’s current crop of Star Wars comics — specifically the new Han Solo series by writer Marjorie Liu and artist Mark Brooks.

Brooks recently wrote in a post to Facebook, “Got an e-mail last night from Lucasfilm saying that George Lucas would like to purchase every original page from Han Solo #1 and #2. Surreal is an understatement.” This has to be the highest compliment to not only Brooks, but everyone at Marvel. [CBR]

J. Michael Stracynski Announces Retirement from Comics

Sad news coming out of SDCC for fans of writer J. Michael Straczynski’s comics works. The acclaimed writer has announced his plans to leave comic book writing behind, for good. He said that his own inner voice whispered in his ear, “You’re done here, move on, do something else.” Actually, the reasons are a lot more complicated than just that, and have to do with medical issues surrounding his eyesight, and his desire to tackle prose novels in a serious manner.

During his career, JMS has written for animation, live-action TV, features, and of course comics, most famously a six year run on Amazing Spider-Man and his own creator owned work like Rising Stars and Midnight Nation. Straczynski wrote an open letter to Newsarama explaining his reasons why he’s leaving comics in detail, and as with most Straczynski writing, it’s long winded, so get a cup of coffee and get comfy before you read it all (just teasing Joe — we love you). You can read the whole letter at the following link: [Newsarama]

Ms. Marvel Wants You to Vote This November

If you were around in the ’90s, then you remember when MTV encouraged the youth of America to go out and “Rock the Vote.” Now Marvel is taking a page from MTV, as they are using one of their characters to encourage readers to vote in the coming election — maybe the most important election of their lives. As part of a live stream event promoting Civil War II and Ms. Marvel, a patriotic variant cover for November’s Ms. Marvel #13 by Joelle Jones was revealed.

Series editor Sana Amanat said that the cover, and the character of Ms. Marvel herself, is intended to champion Americans of all ethnicities, and encourage readers to “go out and vote” in this coming election. Considering that Ms. Marvel is really Kamala Khan, a Muslim-American, well…I think you can guess who she doesn’t want you to vote for. You can see the election season cover above. [CBR]

Comixology Unlimited Expands This Month

ComixOlogy’s Unlimited service was revealed to the public recently, and offers fans a lot of comics reading for a monthly subscription fee. The first month is free, and every month after it’s just $5.99, which is the price of many single issues these days. Among the new books coming to the service in August are Faith by Jody Houser and artists Francis Portela and Marguerite Sauvage, Conan/Red Sonja by Gail Simone, and many more. For the full list, click on the following link: [Comics Beat]

Marvel’s Action Figure Variants Keep On Comin’

One of Marvel’s most popular series of variants have been John Tyler Christopher’s action figure themed covers, which are illustrated to look like action figure packs with the main lead character still in the blister pack and painted in a realistic manner. Now the publisher has let retailers know exactly which character will be appearing on which of the upcoming announced action figure variants, although they can’t show images of most of the covers yet.

Here’s the list so far: Champions #1 will feature Johnny Blaze, Ghost Rider on the classic variant, while the Amadeus Cho version of the Hulk on the Now! variant. Darth Vader #25 will have Doctor Aphra. Infamous Iron Man #1 will have Doctor Doom, while Doctor Strange And The Sorcerors Supreme #1 will have feature Nina. Enchanted Tiki Room #1 will have Tangaroa-Ru and Jose, while Great Lakes Avengers #1 will have Flatman. Naturally, Jessica Jones #1 will have Jessica Jones, Prowler #1 will have Prowler, Mosaic #1 will have Mosaic, and Howard The Duck #11 will have Howard. Star Wars #23 will have a Rebel Soldier, while issue #24 will have Lobot (Lando’s cyborg aide). Finally, Star Wars #22 will have Dengar the bounty hunter, which you can view above. [Bleeding Cool]

Aaron Kuder Signs Exclusive Deal With Marvel

Marvel announced this week that former Action Comics artist Aaron Kuder has signed an exclusive contract with publisher. According to the press release, his first job will be to work with writers Charles Soule and Jeff Lemire on the upcoming Death of X four issue miniseries that debuts this October.

The Death of X event is going to lead into the even bigger Inhumans vs X-Men event Marvel announced at SDCC.According to Kuder, “I’m completely stoked to be working at the House of Ideas again. I grew up as a Marvel kid–no really, my 7th birthday wish: grow up to be Spider-Man. But don’t tell anyone. Otherwise it won’t come true.” [Comics Beat]

Art Adams Creates Amazing Walking Dead Interlocking Covers

Arthur Adams is one of the great underappreciated comic book artists, whose illustrations of the X-Men and New Mutants in the ’80s were on posters on many a fan’s bedroom wall back in the day. Now Adams is lending his talents not to mutants, but to zombies, as he’s revealed his variant cover to The Walking Dead #157, the first part of “The Whisperer War” storyline that has been ramping up in the book for months.

The cover features Michonne, and for every issue of this storyline, The Walking Dead is getting a similar cover from Adams and Nathan Fairbairn, that all join together into one giant image. You can see the rest of the covers up to The Walking Dead #162 in detail in our gallery below, and how they all look together in the image above. [Bleeding Cool]

Images: Marvel Comics / DC Comics / Image Comics 

Inked Wednesday #98 – INDIANA JONES Half-Sleeve and More Geeky Tattoos

You know what the world needs more of? Indiana Jones. Just in general. We are getting another film, sure, but I want more Indiana Jones merchandise, toys, and art, too. Where’s my lady’s cut Indy jacket, eh? And I don’t think I have any Indy t-shirts in my collection. Maybe the new movie will inspire a flood of goodies (don’t worry—then I’ll complain about having so many options to spend my money on), but until that happens, let’s admire Ryan Neal’s colorful and awesome Indiana Jones half-sleeve, shall we? The design includes iconic imagery from the films such as the Staff of Ra headpiece, the Golden Idol, the Holy Grail, and more. Look (click to enlarge!):

Indiana Jones half sleeve | Source: David Neal

That killer half-sleeve isn’t all today’s Inked Wednesday has to offer. Jump to the gallery below to see tattoos inspired by Godzilla, Adventure Time, Buffy, and more.

Have pop culture themed body art you’d like to see featured in a future gallery? That works out, because I’d love to show it off. Send me pictures of your tattoos by leaving links in the comments, tagging or mentioning me on Instagram (no direct messages please), shooting me photos on Twitter, emailing me at alratcliffe at yahoo dot com, or using the #InkedWednesday hashtag. Whew! I think the only other way to get in touch with me would be sending a raven, and I don’t have the facilities to accept bird post. When you send me a pic, please let me know the name of your tattoo artist if you have it.

Teaser for Christopher Guest’s New Film MASCOTS Has Us Cheering

Do you realize that Christopher Guest‘s last mockumentary film, For Your Consideration, came out in 2006? That’s 10 long years without a new movie from the man who basically owns an entire genre of film. Well soon we will all be able to stop waiting for Chris, because Netflix has released a teaser for his newest film, Mascots.

This brief promo, which we first came across at Collider, contains no actual footage from the movie, but it does have us as giddy as eating beans. In the vein of his past films it promises to tell the story of a group of people desperate for meaningless glory in a very specific and strange little world. The new Netflix film will explore the “ultra-competitive world of sports mascots where they compete for the most prestigious award in their field,” the Gold Fluffy.

The teaser might not show much, besides a cheap looking trophy, but the poster Netflix released with it sure does.

There is so much going on here, but look at that giant hand!

Mascots, which Guest co-wrote with Jim Piddock, will bring back plenty of the director’s frequent players, including Jane Lynch, Parker Posey, Ed Begley Jr., Jennifer Coolidge, John Michael Higgins, Bob Balaban, Don Lake, Fred Willard, Michael Hitchcock, and Harry Shearer, as well as Silicon Valley‘s Zach Woods.

The movie will premiere at the Toronto Film Festival in September, and then be available to stream on Netflix starting October 13. We really wish we didn’t have to wait until then, but after 10 years, a couple more months doesn’t seem so bad.

What’s your favorite scene from a Christopher Guest movie? What about your favorite character? Tell us in the comments below.

Image: Netflix

See Over a Hundred Photos from the HARRY POTTER Studio Tour

If you are a fan of the Harry Potter films and you find yourself in London, there is one thing you must do and it is to obtain tickets and run to the Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter. Use floo powder, your trusty Firebolt, London Underground tickets—take whatever transportation is required because the tour falls firmly into the category of “Cannot Be Missed.”

I had high expectations going into the Harry Potter studio tour. Opened in 2012, the tour is a permanent part of Warner Bros.’ footprint at Leavesden. It’s packed to the gills with magical artifacts that document the making of the eight Harry Potter movies. I’d heard nothing but praise from friends about the tour, and though part of me wanted to go in and be completely surprised, I couldn’t help flipping through galleries online. I went in knowing what to expect, and I was still blown away. I don’t use the expression lightly. I lost count of how many times I stood in front of something, jaw dropped in disbelief. A staggering amount of work went into bringing Wizarding World to life.

The Sorting Hat

The tour winds through so many displays, sets, and behind the scenes exhibits that it’s hard to recall them without the aid of photo documentation. You begin in the Great Hall—entering this grand room possibly (totally) made me cry a little—and travel into vast sound stages with areas showing off Hagrid’s Hut, the inside of the kitchen in The Burrow, Dumbledore’s office, the door to the Chamber of Secrets, the potions classroom, and on and on. Besides the sheer joy of seeing so many set-used costumes and decorations, it’s all done museum style so that you learn a little about what went into crafting the wonders before you.

Gryffindor common room

The Harry Potter tour is immersive, but not in the same way as Wizarding World at the Universal parks. This experience places you on the set instead of in the world, if that makes sense. After you wander through the first part of the tour, you go outdoors to hop aboard the Knight Bus and with the current celebration of the fifteenth anniversary of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (it’s happening until September 5), you can walk inside number four, Privet Drive.

The Burrow

Hogwart’s Express

Number four, Privet Drive

As the tour wraps up, you’ll see the efforts of the prosthetic, effects, and prop departments up close. They crafted everything from goblin masks to the creepy baby Voldemort seen in Goblet of Fire. It was wonderful to see the artistry of creatures such as Fawkes and Aragog in person. And it still wasn’t over. After a stroll through the Diagon Alley set, you’ll make your way to the pièce de résistance of the tour: an incredibly detailed 1:24 model of Hogwarts.

Hogwarts

The model of the school for witchcraft and wizardry has been used in every movie. How detailed is it? There are miniature owls in the Owlery. Seeing it for the first time would be one of those moments when my jaw dropped in awe.

Planning a visit to the studio tour? I have some handy tips:

Take extra batteries and clear space: Whether you’re using your phone or a separate camera, bring spare batteries and make room. You’re going to want to take more pictures and video than you can imagine.
Comfy shoes: The experience involves a fair amount of walking and standing, so wear shoes that will tolerate that.
Don’t just see it through a lens: The studio offers free wifi so you can tweet, Snapchat, and otherwise share your experience at the Harry Potter tour. I did that, but I also took time to make sure I looked at the displays with my own eyes. Document your trip, take all the photos, but don’t only look at everything through the lens because you’ll miss so much.
Stop in the cafe: If you’re spending over a couple hours doing the studio tour (and you likely will), plan to stop and get a snack at the cafe. It’s conveniently located in the middle of the tour (tour traffic goes one way through a couple of stages), and you’re going to need the fuel to get you through the rest of the exhibits and back to your home base.
Linger to see different lighting: Lighting changes in places like Diagon Alley and at the Hogwarts model, and when it cycles through, it brings different moods to the setting. Stand still and see them all.
Look up: You might think it’s impossible to cram more awesome stuff into the tour, but if you remember to always look up, you’ll find more set pieces to drool over.
Go with equally enthusiastic fans: As someone who adores the Harry Potter universe and nerds out over props and the nuts and bolts of costume and set design, I took my sweet ol’ time wandering through the tour and happily my group was into a slow pace. It’s self-guided, so you can go as quickly or as slowly as you want; you can literally wander around until they close. I encourage taking your time; my group was there approximately 4 hours. I don’t know if a non-fan would last as long. Choose your companions carefully.

You can see dozens more pictures from the tour in the below gallery. I included several shots of the model of Hogwarts at the end because holy pixies, it is beyond dazzling.

Have you been to the Harry Potter studio tour? Head to the comments and tell me about your highlights from the journey.

Images: Amy Ratcliffe

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s MYCROFT HOLMES #1 is Tons of Fun

“I really enjoyed this comic book by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar,” is not a statement you expect to be making, but I’m making it here and now. Mycroft Holmes: The Apocalypse Handbook #1, the first issue in a limited-series based on the novel Mycroft Holmes by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Anna Waterhouse, is a fun, beautifully drawn comic. The story is a prequel, of sorts, to the adventures of Sherlock Holmes and stars his older – perhaps smarter – brother. The Mycroft of Doyle’s original tales was described as a slow-moving, overweight guy who resisted physical exertion at all cost, but this is not that Mycroft. In fact, everything about this comic book is surprising, and that’s a very good thing.

Mycroft Holmes: The Apocalypse Handbook #1 features a lead character that has more in common with James Bond, a dashing jerk of a fellow who belittles everyone and loves ladies, drinking, and fighting. It doesn’t feel like another Holmes adventure, which is nice because we have plenty of those. Writer Raymond Obstfeld handles the adaptation deftly, introducing us to the character and this unique world with skill and style. Whether you are a long time Holmes fan, a first time reader, or just looking for a solid adventure comic, Obstfeld has you covered making this thing accessible and fast right from the opening scene. Simon Bowland’s smooth lettering certainly helps as well, never crowding a panel or page too much. This is a text heavy comic and with the wrong letterer it could’ve gone south fast, but Bowland is one of the best and clearly the right person for the job.

Of course, none of this would work if it wasn’t for the killer, detailed art from Joshua Cassara. You might think that Titan Comics were merely counting on Abdul-Jabbar’s name and readers’ familiarity with the Holmes legacy to sell this book, but that is clearly not the case. Cassara’s is the MVP on this comic, filling the pages with lush, soft detail and graceful, fluid action. Mycroft Holmes: The Apocalypse Handbook #1 looks fantastic, and that should be it’s biggest selling point, not the famous names attached to it. Cassara’s art is as refreshing as it is dense, he never skimps on a background or a detail, always drawing your eye to the right spot. It certainly helps that his art is colored with equal skill and grace by Luis Guerrero. Even if you have no interest in this character or it’s high profile author, you should check out this comic. The art alone sells it.

There are plenty of readers ready to write off Mycroft Holmes: The Apocalypse Handbook #1 as a cheap adaptation, but they’re missing out. This is a great comic book that is stunningly beautiful and more than just a new take on a classic character.

Image: Titan Comics

 

 

SUICIDE SQUAD Is Too All Over the Place to Really Land (Review)

When I can’t figure out how to start a review—a problem I meet fairly often—I generally look to the beginning of the movie I’m assigned to critique, hoping to find some jumping-off point for a discussion about its themes and ideas, ditto its successes and failures. But thinking back on Suicide Squad I’m not exactly sure where or when its story actually does begin.

Maybe in its very first moments, when we meet an imprisoned Deadshot (Will Smith) trading barbs with a sadistic prison guard (Ike Barinholtz)? Or perhaps when government official Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) rallies her Washington underlings to ordain a team of supervillains on retainer just in case a completely separate supervillain goes apeshit and threatens to take over the planet? Or maybe it begins when one specific supervillain goes ape-shit and threatens to take over the planet as a direct result of Amanda Waller’s endeavors to put together a team of supervillains to protect against the threat of any given supervillain’s efforts to take over the planet, which the movie never seems to acknowledge one way or the other. Personally, I think it’s when the supervillain team—the very same put together by Waller and her D.C. suits—finally gets around to trying to quell the threat of a separate supervillain who is, ostensibly, making a sporting go at taking over the world.

Some unknowable amount of time into Suicide Squad, you’ll eventually realize that it has, in fact, begun. By this time, you’ll have met its ragtag gang of unlikely heroes: heartless killer but loving father Deadshot, lunatic assassin Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), and, to put it in Gilligan’s Island terms, “the rest.” It’s tough to say if the shortchanging of the eponymous motley crew’s remaining members is more or less significant a problem than its narrative chaos, largely because both missteps cater to the same result: a lack of understanding of how we’re supposed to feel at any given time throughout the movie.

Sometimes, this manifests in the logical, as the plot weaves together so haphazardly that you’ll occasionally feel impelled to ask, out loud, what might actually be going on. But it’s even more damning when this comes into play in the emotional. Occasionally, one member of the Squad will invoke the notion that he has warmed to the unlikely surrogate family with whom he’s been thrust into battle, though we spend so little time seeing these characters get to know one another that a greater suspension of disbelief is entailed toward the notion that they might actually care for one another than it does toward the fact that one of these people is also a giant lizard.

Such is the fatal error of Suicide Squad: this failure to put together a “squad” in sincerity. It’s an especial shame, as the varied members—Smith especially, and Jai Courtney (as Captain Boomerang) when he’s allotted screen time—are fun caricatures, and occasionally even empathetic. Robbie’s will more than likely be the performance you walk away from the movie talking about, as she commands the bulk of the camera’s attention, and plays up the kooky to superhuman levels. Though her material was far too often some variation of a “What are you lookin’ at?” gag, her dynamism was a reminder of what she can do with a character.

However, even the team’s strongest players play second fiddle to Cara Delevingne. Though not giving a performance as weighty a Smith’s, nor one as nuanced as Robbie’s, Delevingne’s turn as the recently revived ancient witch Enchantress is the sort of operatic, off-the-wall nerd fanfare that comic devotees have no doubt been missing in the grittier and goofier film adaptations of their favorite titles. Otherwise entrenched in a caustic and deliberately cool ambiance, Suicide Squad lifts to pleasantly weird strata when Enchantress goes total bananas and begins wreaking prehistoric havoc throughout the financial district of Middle City. Though time spent with Enchantress might be the fruitful source for genuine smiles, I’ve got to wish they expensed even some of this material in favor of more squad-building.

Suicide Squad is hardly absent of enjoyable pieces. Smith brings the lion’s share of character work, Robbie steals scenes even when her dialogue could use another rewrite, and I’ll be happy to see something half as bizarre as Enchantress in another blockbuster this year. However, it’s the apparent lack of strategy in putting together these pieces that undermines the lot, resulting in a good deal less than the sum of the film’s admittedly decent parts. With talents like Smith and Robbie and characters with as much potential as that displayed by Killer Croc (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) and El Diablo (Jay Hernandez), it’s a shame and a puzzler that the biggest letdown of Suicide Squad was its virtual squadlessness.

That or the Joker.

Rating: 2 out of 5 burritos.

Images: Warner Bros.

Michael Arbeiter is the East Coast Editor for Nerdist. Find him on Twitter @MichaelArbeiter.